Rams, Bucks make playoffs, Dolphins left out

Sunday

The FHSAA revealed its brackets for the 2018 high school football playoffs Sunday and two Bay County teams are headed to the postseason, while another is sore about staying home.

Rutherford is the No. 5 seed in Region 1-4A and will open the playoffs at No. 4 seed Marianna on Friday just a week after losing to the Bulldogs 26-12 at Tommy Oliver Stadium. The winner of that game will move on to face top-seeded Raines, which gets a bye into the second round.

Regardless of whether the Rams advance past their first round matchup, Rutherford coach Loren Tillman said he was thrilled for his players just to be able to continue the season.

"We’re excited for the guys," he said. "We played a really tough schedule and we’re excited to have the chance to represent the community and the school. We’re glad we were able to get back on the field last Friday since we hadn’t been out there in a month. If we hadn’t been able to do that, we would’ve told the FHSAA to take somebody else. Hopefully that game will pay dividends for us Friday and we can get back to game speed."

Bozeman is the No. 6 seed in Region 1-1A and is also on the road Friday against No. 3 seed Jay. Should the Bucks win that game, they would face the winner of Vernon vs. Chipley in the second round.

Baker was the top seed in Region 1-1A and will host Freeport, while No. 2 seed Vernon is hosting Chipley and No. 4 Northview is hosting Graceville. In Region 2-1A, Port St. Joe is the top seed and will host Liberty County and play the winner of No. 4 Blountstown vs. No. 5 Cottondale in the second round.

Sneads is the No. 2 seed in Region 2-1A and hosts Franklin County, with the winner to face the winner of No. 3 Jefferson County vs. No. 6 Wewahitchka.

Mosley was left out of the Region 1-5A bracket despite starting the year 6-0 before finishing the season with losses to Niceville, Pensacola, and Leon. The Dolphins were sitting at an average of 40 points before Hurricane Michael hit, which would’ve had them safely in the playoffs.

Losses to Category 3 team Pensacola and Category 4 Leon pushed Mosley down to a 35.33 average, the same as Pensacola and 2.57 points less than No. 8 seed Suwannee. Dolphins coach Jeremy Brown said he had a hard time understanding how his team could be left out of the playoff field given everything it had endured since the hurricane.

"The first thing that comes to my mind when I try to rationalize and kind of work out in my mind how something like this could take place is that the FHSAA does not care about kids," he said. "I’m in the kid business, and they’re in the business business. I don’t know how you could be involved in education and do something like this."

Mosley was the first Bay county football team to play a game after the hurricane, playing host to District 1 foe Pensacola at Tommy Oliver Stadium on Oct. 20 and losing 24-21. The Dolphins lost their season finale 38-24 to Leon, though Brown said even a victory probably wouldn’t have been enough to get his team in given the Lions’ status as a Category 4 team, the lowest of the four tiers due to their 3-7 record.

Brown said he suggested to the FHSAA to freeze Mosley’s points through the season before the hurricane, or to let the Dolphins in as a No. 9 seed and give top seed Trinity Christian a bye. The FHSAA denied both requests. Brown said he still doesn’t regret playing the final two games of the season even if not playing them might have gotten his team in the playoffs.

"The reason we decided to play these games is because we believe football teaches life lessons," he said. "If you have a job and you’re on the schedule to work you’re supposed to get your butt up and go to work. When you have a job, you go do the job. We had a schedule and we felt like we needed to play those games because that’s what’s right, and ultimately we got punished for it."

Brown said he also asked the FHSAA why it wouldn’t give special consideration to the 5A regions that were affected by the storm the same way it did for Regions 1 and 2 in Class 1A, which were both granted two extra playoff spots, but he said the state didn’t give him an answer. Ultimately, he said, he’s disappointed for his players for not getting the chance he feels they earned to continue their season.

"What frustrates me the most is that none of those people at the FHSAA that made these decisions and that wouldn’t answer our questions has to look these kids in the eyes every day, I do," Brown said. "I have to explain to a 16- or 17-year-old kid why adults in leadership roles didn’t make decisions on what was best for our kids. Some of these seniors may never play another down of football and they’ve got to have an ending like this for something that was not in their control and that’s not right. No one can convince me that was right. Our kids weren’t treated right and that’s shameful. It really is."

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.